College of Saint Rose named new president

ALBANY >> The board of trustees of The College of Saint Rose Monday announced the selection of Dr. Carolyn J. Stefanco of Decatur, Ga., to serve as the 11th president of the College.

The board voted to approve the unanimous recommendation of the presidential search committee that Stefanco be offered the position. Currently, Stefanco is vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, a position she has held since 2010.

Stefanco will assume her new role July 14. She succeeds Dr. Margaret Kirwin, who has served as interim president since July 2013.

“We are extremely pleased to name Dr. Carolyn Stefanco as the 11th president of The College of Saint Rose. A recognized scholar and educator, her proven success is deep and broad, from her recent academic leadership at Agnes Scott College in Georgia to creating new initiatives and moving them forward at Cal Poly, many of which continue today. Her international experience in London and as a Fulbright Scholar in Croatia will enhance what Saint Rose is already doing to globalize the campus. As we approach the College’s 100-year anniversary, the entire Saint Rose community welcomes Carolyn as the College takes its place on the national stage,” said Judith Calogero, trustee and co-chair of the presidential search committee.

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Stefanco expressed her gratification at being chosen to lead Saint Rose.

“I am honored and excited to carry on the mission and deeply rooted values of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet and look forward to working with the trustees, students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends and community to build the College’s future. I love that the College prioritizes community service and recognizes that partnerships with local and regional business, government and civic leaders are key to the success of higher educational institutions in urban environments. To lead an outstanding institution that is poised to reach even higher levels of innovation and entrepreneurship, to serve in even greater ways the workforce and economic needs of the Capital Region and beyond, and to set a course that will ensure academic excellence and management success is an extraordinary opportunity,” she said.

“Dr. Maggie Kirwin has personified the term ‘servant-leader,’ and her dedication to the mission of Saint Rose is resolute and incalculable,” said Calogero. “Marcus Buckley has provided stellar service as chief operating officer in the Office of the Presidency. The entire board is profoundly grateful to both.”

In her current position, Stefanco serves as Agnes Scott’s chief academic officer and the first of the college’s five vice presidents. The Division of Academic Affairs includes academic programs, the curriculum, staff and faculty recruitment and review, budget planning and management, assessment, student success, international education, sponsored programs and information technology, as well as numerous other offices and resources. During her four-year tenure, she led initiatives that achieved master planning goals, won institutional reaccreditation, increased academic quality and student retention, raised funds from foundations and individuals, and fostered the college’s global efforts.

Prior to her service at Agnes Scott, Stefanco held leadership and teaching positions at California State University, Stanislaus, California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) and Wheaton College in Massachusetts. At CSU Stanislaus, Stefanco was the founding dean of the new College of Humanities and Social Sciences, overseeing 77 undergraduate and graduate programs. Her tenure at Cal Poly included special assistant to the dean for faculty development, chair of the institution’s Department of History and director of the Women’s Studies Program. Stefanco joined the Wheaton faculty in 1986 as an assistant professor of history and served as co-coordinator of the Women’s Studies Program.

Stefanco earned her doctorate in history from Duke University and a master’s degree in history from Binghamton University. She completed the Harvard Management Development Program, the American Council on Education’s Institute for New Chief Academic Officers, the Council for Independent College’s program on Presidential Vocation and Institutional Mission, and Leadership Atlanta. Her research has been funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation and other agencies, and she has published in the areas of Southern and Western women’s history, and higher education leadership. Stefanco serves as a member of the board of directors of the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences and was recently elected as the vice president/president-elect of the Association of Chief Academic Officers.

Stefanco was a Fulbright Scholar to the University of Zagreb in Croatia and has created programs for student exchange and faculty research in Honduras, Brazil, Portugal and Croatia. She received the 1989 Faculty Appreciation Award for Teaching at Wheaton College and the Richard K. Simon Outstanding Service Award from the College of Liberal Arts at Cal Poly in 2007.

A native of Garfield, N.J., Stefanco is married to McGuire Gordon, who works in the film industry. The couple has one daughter, Alexandra, a senior at the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in history of art.